I have just been to one of the coolest places I’ve ever been to. It’s called Salvation Mountain…I’ll be uploading a lot of pictures from there, because it was so amazing, and I just want to share as much as I can! Whatever your religious beliefs, I think you’ll have to agree that this is an amazing creation. Going inside the one structure was like being in a magical little world…very surreal. But I’ll share those pictures later. For now, I’m going to show the outside, and some of the cars and things that are painted around the property. This man, Leonard Knight, spent about 28 years creating this…He’s lived out there in a converted truck all by himself for most of that time…He supposedly was always thrilled to get visitors there, and happily showed people around. From the sounds of it, he was a man filled with love and joy. Unfortunately, he is no longer able to live out there anymore and continue his work because of poor health. I’m going to paste here what Wikipedia says about Salvation Mountain, but there’s so much more to it than what they’ve said, and I encourage you to do a search on the place to find out more!

“Salvation Mountain is an art installation covering a hill north of Calipatria, California, near Slab City and just several miles from the Salton Sea. It is made from adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint. It was created by local resident Leonard Knight, and encompasses numerous murals and areas painted with Christian sayings and Bible verses.

In December of 2011, Knight (at the age of 80) was placed in a long-term care facility in El Cajon for dementia. Concern has been raised for the future of the site, which requires constant maintenance due to the harsh surrounding environment. Many visitors bring paint to donate to the project, and a group of volunteers have been working to protect and maintain the site.

The site was featured in the 2007 film Into The Wild."

Uploaded

November 21st, 2012

Statistics

Viewed 605 Times - Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 08/01/2015 at 7:17 AM

. ╰⊰✿ . . wonderful natural light and colours with just a hint of a vignette on the sky . looks like a mobile church in the distance on the left and on the foreground love the heart shaped window . . and lattice . . and soft blue colours of the truck . . how funny . . . perhaps someone lives in this ? so cute how they painted the tires too . although I cannot imagine someone living out here with no fresh water or trees surrounded by all this sand and soil . dry as dust . can you imagine if they had a big wind . . fascinating . . . the blue sky is so beautiful . . so many contrails it is amazing . . . wonderful processing Laurie . your image tells a story . . love this one . . ✿⊱╮ . . .

I'm thrilled that you love this, Sharon!!! And believe it or not, this man DID actually live out there, all by himself for something like 25 years! He didn't sleep inside the "mountain" he built, either...He slept in one of these truck campers...the one in front, I believe! And it gets incredibly HOT out there...I really don't know how he did it. Yep, there are plenty of sand storms, too!! The desert can be a pretty unforgiving place! I truly appreciate your wonderful words, Sharon!! Thank you so, so much!!!! :))))

Aw, I'm so happy you love it!!! Yes, Carolyn, from all I've seen here and also read, he definitely has a heart of gold, and he is also definitely gifted!! Thank you so much for these really wonderful words, Carolyn!!! It means a lot!!! :)))